Pilots Move To Organize Controllers

April 29, 1985|The New York Times

NEW YORK — Leaders of the Air Line Pilots Association, which refused to honor picket lines when air-traffic controllers struck illegally four years ago, are now moving to organize controllers into an affiliated union.

The plan to start a membership drive among the 14,000 employees in the nation`s rebuilt controller force will be submitted to the 48-member executive council of the pilots` union in mid-May. ``We would not be going this far if we were not convinced that we can organize the controllers and did not believe the council would approve,`` Henry A. Duffy, the union president, said in an interview.

The drive, if successful, raises the prospect that a potent labor organization would confront the Federal Aviation Administration, which operates the nationwide air traffic control system. In 1981, the strike by the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization collapsed after the federal government dismissed 11,400 strikers.